>> pelley: tonight, the announcement no one on earth saw coming. pope benedict xvi becomes the first pope in six centuries to resign. allen pizzey in vatican city with what happens now. mark phillips on who might be next. tensions are high after reported sightings of the most wanted man in california. bill whitaker reports on the dragnet. we now know what a massive tornado left behind in mississippi -- >> that is big! >> pelley: while in new england they're counting the losses from the record blizzard. and cliff romesha receives the medal of honor. he tells david martin how he earned the highest award for valor. >> reporter: the citation says

there were 400 enemy soldiers. >> and we had 52 great americans. didn't seem fair to them. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. when the news got out today, catholics all over the world were asking whether they had heard correctly. something that just doesn't happen just did: a pope resigned. pope benedict xvi, 85 years old and frail, told a meeting of cardinals today he no longer has the physical and mental strength to carry out his responsibilities. on february 28, he will become the first phone step down since the 15th century, leaving the church in search of a new leader. we have a team of correspondents covering this historic day and the future of the catholic church beginning with allen pizzey in vatican city.

>> reporter: the surprise announcement was delivered to a gathering of cardinals in latin. citing his age, pope benedict said to do his work both strength of mind and body are necessary and that his have deteriorated "to the extent that i have to recognize my incapacity to fulfill the ministry entrusted to me." vatican sources said the pope had been considering his resignation for some time, but the clerics who heard it were still taken by surprise according to bishop oscar sanchez. "we were all stunned" he said. "all the cardinals looked at each other and that was it. we asked for a last blessing." but perhaps they should have seen it coming. benedict has been in failing health for some time and had previously said he would consider resigning if he felt he could no longer carry on. but vatican officials said no specific medical condition

prompted the resignation. vatican spokesman father federico lombardi said the pope acted with what he called "great freedom and clarity." >> we will continue to love him and to receive his love. >> reporter: benedict is one of the oldest popes to be elected at the age of 78 in 2005 and he had to cope with crises that included the priest sex abuse scandal and the theft of documents from his desk by his trusted butler. the last pope to resign was gregory xii-- 600 years ago. benedict cannot participate in the conclave to choose a success which won't begin until the end of the second week of march at the earliest. he will probably live the rest of his life in a congregation for cloistered nuns inside vatican city. scott? >> pelley: allen pizzey with st. peter's behind you. allen, thanks very much. "conclave" in latin means "with key." the cardinals of the church will

meet behind the locked doors of the sistine chapel to elect the pope. the vatican hopes to have the successor in place by easter. any male catholic can be elected pope, but traditionally the cardinals choose one of their own-- a cardinal. we asked mark phillips who's in the running. >> reporter: for the princes of the church, the cardinals, the sudden resignation of the pope can be more of a shock than the death of one and it is they who have to choose the next one. according to retired american cardinal theodore mccarrick, the church will now be looking for a new pope with a combination of the qualities it liked in the last two. >> i think they'll be looking for someone who would have some of the wisdom of pope benedict and some of the charisma of pope john paul ii. >> reporter: in the murky world of vatican politics, no clear front-winner to replace benedict has emerged. a church which has come to see

its future more and more in the developing world will have to decide whether its next leader should be from there. cardinal peter turkson of ghana is a campaigner for social reform and is often cited as the leading african candidate. but the 64-year-old has already stumbled on the issue of the church's relations with islam and is seen as a risky choice. the highest profile potential candidate from latin america may be the 63-year-old archbishop of sao paolo, brazil, cardinal odilio pedro scherer, but the church has yet to demonstrate it's ready for a south american pope and he's thought to be a long shot. there are long odds as well for cardinal timothy dolan, archbishop of new york. but any american candidate would have to overcome the church's traditional reluctance to elect a superpower pope. if the church reverts to an italian, cardinal anglo scola, 71-year-old archbishop of milan is a popular figure, but the

choice will likely have to do more with the approach from the issues than to geography. >> it's a complicated world the new holy father faces, as it was with the last two holy fathers. but the complications do not ease up, they seem to multiply. >> reporter: and the choice the church is facing this time is the same one it faced eight years ago when it chose cardinal ratzinger then. then he appeared to be the heir apparent. this time, scott, there isn't one. >> pelley: mark, thank you very much. mark just mentioned cardinal timothy dolan, the archbishop of new york. he sat down with us earlier today. were you surprised this morning? >> was i ever startled! yes, i was! >> pelley: what's next? this hasn't happened in nearly six hundred years. >> this hasn't happened in six centuries, has it? now we know what happens when the pope dies. whether the same protocol will click in, i don't know. i'll be waiting to see. i would presume what would happen is that the cardinal colleges will be summoned to

rome to be there for march 1 because once the chair is vacant, by church law the college of cardinals would be -- would oversee the day in/day out pastoral leadership and governance of the church universal. >> pelley: the pope was very conservative. when a lot of american catholics are looking for a pope to lead into a new era maybe for women in the church, for example. >> yeah, they have to realize, scott, that the job description of the pope is to conserve. (laughs) you know, to conserve the pat ramonny of the faith. so it shouldn't surprise us that a pope could be conservative in the best sense of the world. >> pelley: would you expect that college of cardinals to give us a pope very similar to the man who appointed them and elected him? >> i think catholics in general-- and certainly college of cardinals-- would look for a man who's able to articulate the trues of the faith with -- in a

compelling way, in a compelling, credible way. a man of deep piety. a man who know it is church universal and the needs of the people throughout the world. those would be some of the things i think that people would look for. the pope benedict xvi had that. >> pelley: cardinal timothy dolan. in 2008, during a visit to the united states, pope benedict xvi did something unprecedented. in a closed meeting in washington, d.c. he met members of the church who had been sexually abused at the hands of priests. seth doane met with one of those people, the people in that meeting, today. >> i remember looking autothese stained glass windows going "god help me, this isn't happening" while he was fondling me, grabbing me. >> reporter: you were just 11 at the time? >> yes. >> reporter: bernie mcdade said he was sexually abused by a priest when he was an altar boy at st. james in salem, massachusetts. >> quite frankly i was brought up as a catholic to think that

these people were good-- good in nature. and all i'd been surrounded by is deception. >> reporter: investigating sex abuse was among the assignments for then-cardinal ratzinger during his more than 20 years in the vatican office that deals with church discipline. but he was criticized for not moving quickly to defrock priests who molested children. but as pope, benedict apologized tub publicly to victims. >> i express my deep sorrow to the innocent victims of this unspeakable crime. >> reporter: he was the first pope to meet with victims, including bernie mcdade. >> he wouldn't talk to me. he would look down and go "yes, yes, yes, my son." that was it. he wouldn't engage me. i realized after the meeting he was there on a spiritual level to show the world that, hey, i apologized. >> what did you hope to get out of your meeting with the pope? >> i want them to apologize and

not just say the words. i want action after the fact. that's never happened. never happened. >> reporter: in recent years, the church has expedited its removal of abusive priests but, scott, it has not moved to punish the bishops responsible for protecting those priests by moving them from church to church. >> pelley: seth, thank you very much. tonight that massive manhunt continues in southern california. the police are searching for a fired los angeles cop who's accused of seeking revenge by targeting officers and their families. he's suspected of killing three people. bill whitaker gets us up to date on the search. >> reporter: it's the biggest manhunt ever in southern california and the biggest reward-- $1 million. more than 600 threw clues about fugitive ex-cop christopher dorner have poured in, but dorner continues to elude police. today, river side california d.a. paul zellerbach filed first

degree murder charges against dorner for the slaying of dorner thursday. >> this individual by both his words and conduct has made it very clear to all of us that every law enforcement officer in southern california is in danger of being shot or killed. >> reporter: the area around the resort town of big bear east of l.a. remains the primary focus of the search. dorner's burned out pickup truck was found near here thursday. since then, his trail has grown cold. back in los angeles, 50 protection details are guarding dorner's possible targets. l.a. mayor antonio via a go a. >> we will find him because we're putting our resources to do it and i think it will happen sooner rather than later. >> reporter: in an online rant, dorner pledged revenge against those who he says are responsible for him being fired from the l.a.p.d.. he claims he was wrongly dismissed when he complained his

training officer used excessive force. chief charlie beck says he's reopening the case. >> this investigation has been reviewed at multiple points and i'm eel look at it again because -- not to appease him but to make sure the community understands that we're transparent and we value fairness. >> reporter: scott, here at the l.a.p.d., the tactical alert has been called off, which means that the officers have returned to their regular schedules. but police say that doesn't mean that they have let down their guards. they say they believe dorner will strike again if given the chance. >> pelley: bill, thank you. a senate committee is scheduled to vote tomorrow on the nomination of chuck hagel to be secretary of defense. hagel is a republican but he's been drawing a lot of criticism from senate republicans. in an interview tomorrow on cbs "this morning," former republican vice president dick cheney will join the chorus. >> my guess is if you're looking

for what the president's motives are for picking chuck hagel, i think he wants a republican to go be the foil, if you will, for what he wants to do to the department which is, i think, do serious, serious damage to our military capabilities. >> pelley: vice president dick cheney spoke with charlie rose and you can see their interview first thing tomorrow on cbs "this morning." the man known as america's top military sniper was remembered at a memorial today. millions took a dip in the ganges, repeating an ancient ritual. and two days after the blizzard, some are asking "where's the plow?" when the "cbs evening news" continues. [ female announcer ] if you have rheumatoid arthritis, can you start the day the way you want? can orencia help? could your "i want" become "i can"? talk to your doctor. orencia reduces many ra symptoms like pain, morning stiffness and progression of joint damage. it's helped new ra patients and those not helped enough by other treatments. do not take orencia

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biggest, most joyful festival. in a two-month-long celebration this day is considered the luckiest to take a dip. saryu das is a holy man who came here to collect a bottle of sacred water. how do you feel after swimming in the ganges? "this is our heritage" he told us. "the mother ganges has given us her blessings since the beginning of time." then came the pilgrims. a flood of humanity not driven by war or hunger but moved by a shared faith. they've gathered here from all over india, camped out in a giant city of tents in a carnival atmosphere. this country modernizing fast, but hindus are still rooted in an ancient religion.

this woman comes from a wealthy indian family but gave up nearly all of her material possessions to study with holy men. >> he thinks he's a king? he's got nothing but he's a king in his heart. >> reporter: on the banks of the ganges, this religious service became increasingly chaotic. at times it had come dangerously close to being a stampede as the pilgrims have rushed forward, wave after wave, to wash in the water. later in the day came the news that there was a stampede as pilgrims left the kumbh mela and tried to board a trade. at least 30 people were crushed to death. hindus have been coming together for the kumbh mela for more than 2,000 years, but now the crowds are growing bigger and this time that proved deadly. holly williams, cbs news, prayag india.

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students were on break. statewide, 200 homes were damaged. 60 people were hurt but no one was killed. the northeast is digging out after that weekend blizzard. heavy rain today added to the mess. this is hartford, connecticut, where nearly two and a half feet of snow fell. the people on this block saw a plow for the first time this morning-- two days after the storm. the nor'easter is blamed for at least 17 deaths. more than 128,000 homes and businesses are still without power, most of them in massachusetts. in texas today, so many people wanted to attend a memorial service for ex-navy seal chris kyle that it was held at the dallas cowboys football stadium. his casket was placed on the 50-yard line. kyle was a sniper and was said to have killed more than 150 of the enemy in iraq-- a record. he was shot to death last week

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>> pelley: today president obama awarded the medal of honor to staff sergeant clinton romesha. in 2009 with forces under taliban attack, a wounded romesha ducked enemy fire to rescue other wounded soldiers and recover bodies. david martin spoke to romesha about the battle. >> reporter: you have to see come bout outpost keeping to realize how indefensible it was from an attack from these taliban fighters. just 52 american soldiers were down there, plus staff sergeant cliff romesha. >> we were taking everything from very precise sniper fire, automatic weapon fire marxshine gun positions. we were taking mortar and indirect fire, r.p.g. fire. >> reporter: where was it coming from? >> all 360 degrees around us. from every high point.

>> reporter: were you taking casualties? >> we had taken casualties in the first barrage of fire that came in and then continued to take them throughout the remainder of the fire fight. >> reporter: a recreation of the battle shows romesha was everywhere that day-- running across open ground to reinforce one weak point after another. >> at one point i witnessed three enemy fighters just walk straight through our front gate like they owned the place. and to see that, you know, it's just unreal for a second. but that's ours. we're not going to let them do that. >> reporter: how close do you think you came to being overrun? >> almost as close as you can get without being it. >> reporter: although hit in the side from shrapnel by a rocket-propelled grenade, romesha was determined to do more than just survive. >> we weren't going to be beat that day and we were going to take it back. >> reporter: but they were up

against 300 enemy fighters. >> we had 52 great americans. didn't seem fair to them. >> reporter: air strikes finally broke the enemy assault. afterwards, bullet riddled humvees and burned out buildings showed the kind of fire he and his men had braved. >> we ended up losing eight brave soldiers that day. >> reporter: three days later, the americans left keating for good. does it feel like you won? what does it feel like? >> it's hard to say. you want to leave but to know -- to know we just had so many great soldiers there that stood proud and did their job that's just an amazing thing to witness. >> reporter: what was gained that day? nothing? what did clint romesha and his men achieve? everything. david martin, cbs news, the pentagon. >> pelley: and that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight.

for all of us at cbs news all around the world, good night. shocking new details about the death of an infant girl allegedly at the hands of her 14-year-old brother, all revealed in the boy's first court appearance today in montgomery county. that's where scott broom was, as much of the focus is on the age of the accused killer. >> the suspect in this case, only an 8th grader. he remains charged as an adult tonight in the death of his seven month old sister, who officials revealed today was also covered in insect bites. jonathan aguiluz was a good student who night after night watched his younger siblings while hi